Adamat nodded. “Quickly, let’s — ” He stopped in the hallway. The smoke was too thick, and there were flames leaping from the staircase. He tore off his jacket. “Press this to your face,” he said to Faye, and gave his handkerchief to the boy. He led them away from the stairs, down the hallway and toward the front of the building. They might have to jump to the rubble below, but a broken leg was much preferable to being roasted alive.
Adamat froze as a great groaning noise rose above the sound of the flames. Was it the house creaking under the strain of the battle or some kind of sorcery?
“This way,” Faye said, pulling him back into action. She led him around the corner, where another staircase went down to the first floor. There were no flames shooting up this one, but he took it cautiously.
Something slammed through the staircase wall and tumbled down the stairs into a pile of smoldering clothes. Adamat thrust Faye behind him, pointing at the pile with his sword.
Coughing, sputtering, it stood up.
It was Bo. Flames still licked at his clothes, and his muttonchops were singed. He beat at the flames for a moment, and then scowled through the smoking ruins of the stairwell wall.
Bo held a hand over his head. A
The staircase was suddenly full of cool, clean air. Adamat gasped in a great breath of it, holding Faye tightly. She clutched the Eldaminse boy to her skirts.
Fire whipped past Bo, over his shoulder. The Privileged turned his head, as if mildly perturbed. Slivers of ice the size of daggers shot from above his head and
“You can come down now,” Bo said. “I think it’s safe.”
“You think?” Adamat crept slowly down the stairs until he reached the base.
They passed the kitchen and entered the sitting room at the back of the house. On the near wall, impaled to the masonry by icicles dripping blood, was the other Privileged. It was a woman, Deliv by her dark skin. Bo didn’t spare her a second glance. Faye shielded the Eldaminse boy’s eyes.
“Faye,” Adamat said, “this is Privileged Borbador, the last remaining member of the Adran royal cabal.”
“Forgive me if I don’t shake your hand,” Faye said. “I don’t think I want to touch your hands.”
Bo’s black gloves had been burned off by the flames, but his rune-covered Privileged’s gloves were white and pristine, as if brand-new. He clasped his hands and rocked back on his heels. “Understandable. Where’s Vetas?” he asked.
“Fell has him,” Adamat said.
“That woman, I’d very much like to meet her. Properly, that is.”
Adamat couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. “I don’t think you do,” he said.
“I think I’ll be — ”
A scream from outside cut off Bo’s sentence. He cocked his head, like a dog listening for a whistle. “Oh, pit,” he said. “You didn’t tell me there were two.”
“What, another Privileged?” Adamat began casting around for somewhere to hide. But what could protect them? There was no hiding from a Privileged.
Bo sneered, rolling up his sleeves. “Yes,” he said. “Get down!”
The world exploded in a blast of plaster and wood. Adamat was thrown from his feet and knocked about, buffeted by forces beyond his control. He tried to grab for Faye — for anything, but found himself on the ground a moment later.
Everything was silent. Had the attack killed Faye? Or Bo, for that matter? Adamat moved cautiously, not sure whether all the parts of him were intact. A beam had fallen across his chest, the air swirling with smoke and dust. It felt like the whole house had landed on him.
He didn’t feel anything broken, and he was able to move the beam just enough to wriggle out from beneath the rubble. He used his fingers to gingerly feel across the whole surface of his chest. Not much pain.
Adamat climbed to his feet. The Eldaminse boy was nearby, apparently unhurt. Adamat wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried that through all the excitement the boy had hardly made a noise.
“Go on,” Adamat said to him, “hide in the kitchen!” The Privileged might still be here. The boy rushed past, and Adamat shook his head to clear it. Where was Faye?
Panic rose inside of him. Faye. She was gone. Separated from him by the blast. The roof had caved in, and he’d avoided most of it… sweet Kresimir, was she beneath the rubble?
“Faye! Faye!”
“She’s right here,” a voice said.
Adamat turned to find the eunuch standing in the doorway. He was holding Faye up beneath one arm. It looked like she’d injured her ankle. They were both covered in plaster dust.
